ATI Radeon HD 4850 and 4870: RV770 Has Arrived

Last week, due to some unexpected circumstances, we were able to post a sneak peek of the RV770 GPU and ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics card.  As our limited testing showed, the Radeon HD 4850 was quite promising for a $199 graphics card.  But we weren't able to tell the complete story.  While the initial benchmarks definitely looked good, there was a lot more to talk about in regard to the Radeon HD 4850 and the RV770 GPU at the heart of the card.

Today we can finally spill the rest of the beans.  You see, AMD didn't plan to officially announce just one new Radeon HD 4800 series card this week, but two, with a dash of information about a third thrown in for good measure.  Today marks the official arrival of not only the Radeon HD 4850, but the higher-end Radeon HD 4870 as well.  As we've already explained, one card - the Radeon HD 4850 - is targeted at the sub-$200 price point.  The other, however, is a $299 screamer that makes use of some cutting edge technology, like GDDR5 memory.  Click the link below and check them out...

ATI Radeon HD 4850 and 4870: RV770 Has Arrived
Marco Chiappetta

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com